Project Summary The field of regenerative medicine has shown enormous progress to improve human health by restoring damaged and diseased tissue. As the field moves forward to translate laboratory work into new treatments for patients there is a significant need to expose students and junior scientists to the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering (TERM). This funding request is to support the 2017 Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine International Society ? Americas Chapter (TERMIS-AM) Annual Conference and Exposition to be held in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 3 ? 6, 2017. The 2017 TERMIS-AM Meeting is hosted by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) and is organized by Drs. Anthony Atala, MD (Conference Chair), Shay Soker, PhD (Program Chair) and James Yoo, MD, PhD (Program Co- Chair). A diverse and distinguished group of leaders comprising the 2017 Scientific Advisory Committee further assist in the organization. The theme for the 2017-AM Meeting is ?The Path forward for Regenerative Medicine: Traversing the Lab to the Patient?. The TERMIS-AM Meeting is the key annual meeting held in the Americas each year, and bringing together nearly 900 researchers, scientists, trainees, and students from academia, industry and government to discuss key developments in the field. The meeting is led by keynote speakers each day, and consists of parallel technical sessions as well as poster presentations. A strong role in the meeting planning and execution will be played by the TERMIS-AM Student and Young Investigator Section (SYIS). The specific aim is to promote the careers and participation of graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and young scientists with primary emphasis on enhancing the participation and support of women and underrepresented groups in the TERM fields. Towards this end, the proposal seeks to provide travel, registration support and programming that focus on students, young investigators, investigators from underrepresented groups, and women investigators. A series of activities will be planned that target these groups, and aims to enhance their training, mentorship, career development, and job search. In particular, pre-conference programming, student-mentor luncheons, career panel, professional development sessions, networking events, and Women in TERMIS luncheon are proposed along with a public outreach component in collaboration with the Discovery Place Science Center. The conference will be rigorously publicized to attract women and underrepresented minorities, with particular focus on minority-serving universities and medical schools, as well as individuals with disabilities.